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I’ve been posting pictures and a few stories on my baby blog (link in sidebar, below) – but I should be back to posting a few recipes here before too long. How about Carmelized Banana Cake with Bourbon and Pecans? Lemon Lime Icebox Pie? Uh huh. Send Chloe some good “long nap” vibes, and we’ll get something posted soon!

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When I was in high school – specifically, the summer between my sophomore and junior years – I decided I needed a makeover. I have no idea what inspired this thought . . . maybe I was bored, maybe I was feeling a little down on myself, maybe just looking for a change. But I got the idea in my brain, and decided it must be done. At the time, I was spending the summer with my dad and stepmom in Seattle, away from my hometown and friends back in Boise, Idaho. Since I was in The Big City, I figured my makeover would be all the more dramatic. Since I had my driver’s license (and, gasp, my parents allowed me to drive one of their cars! in the city!), I decided my makeover had to be done at the nicest place I could imagine – the big, beautiful mall in Bellevue, all the way across Lake Washington (by freeway!) from where we lived.

So I booked an appointment at an upscale salon, and off I went. And a couple hours laterContinue reading →

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Sorry, no cute pictures of babies for you to swoon over – at least, not yet! Although I can’t wait, because my precious little baby girl is currently making her opinions known from inside my body – as in, every morsel of food I put in my body causes me agony, even a sip of water can bring on heartburn, and her kickboxing practice appears to be focused on my kidneys and bladder. With remarkably good aim, especially at 3am. Five weeks to go, five weeks to go, five weeks to go, sigh.

Instead, I bring you pictures of baby books – specifically, the mound-o-books I received at my baby shower recently. I’m at an avid reader – well, when I have the time, anyway – so a book themed baby shower was a no-brainer. Also because the hubster and I are the very last of all of our friends to have kids, which means we have scored big time in the hand-me-down department. Leaving hardly an item to be purchased by us or gifted on us. Except books!

Amazingly, in all the books received (filling the two shelves of the bookcase pictured above!) from more than a dozen friends and family, there were only two duplicates! The best part was hearing why each person chose the books they did – whether it was a favorite book from childhood, or one of their child’s favorites, or one that they loved to read to their child. The range of books was also impressive – everything from high contrast black and white books for the smallest of babes, to ABC’s and animal picture books, to Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein, totally awesome) and Of Thee I Sing, written by Barack Obama for his two girls (also totally awesome). There were many that I was familiar with, like Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Gorilla, Moo Baa La La La and of course all things Richard Scarry. There were mini books for traveling, books with cords for attaching to the stroller, and big padded block shaped books. And from my stepmom, there was this amazing thing:

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We had a little snow flurry in Portland on Monday. Just a tiny thing – although it was enough to cause panic for the morning commute, and to create a whirlwind of “storm coverage” on all the news channels. At any rate, it was so short lived that I would have missed it entirely, if I hadn’t been out with my husband, returning a friend’s truck that we had borrowed for our weekend of moving.

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So, I’m in Kahana, Maui right now. Did I mention that? Yes, yes I did. Somewhere after the download on the family trip to San Diego, and right before the little evidentiary post regarding a soccer outing in Vegas. I know, because I received hate mail. Not from you, lovely blog readers. From my good friends. Haters, one and all.

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I also love giveaways. Without further ado, THE WINNER of my first blogging giveaway is . . . .

Chelsea Rebecca!

Here’s Chelsea’s comment from the last post:﻿

“i love chocolate with peanut butter!

and because i’m broke dove has been the chocolate of choice! ha. but i am crossing my fingers to win this INCREDIBLE giveaway!”

This winner brought to you by the random number generator at Random.org. I SWEAR I didn’t even give in to the tug on the heartstrings comment, or the fact that I also love chocolate and peanut butter the best. Apparently, Random.org is also a mind reader. Chelsea, you’ll be receiving your gift card shortly!

Thank you all for your fun comments! I’ve got some yummy recipes to post soon, hopefully in the next few days.

Happy Spring (for those of you with sunny skies and spring buds out there)! And to those of you midwest and East Coasters – Happy Hot Chocolate!